US stands ready to give Ukraine financial aid

WASHINGTON -- The United States is ready to provide financial support to Ukraine to complement the IMF aid in a bid to improve the East European country's economy, White House said Monday.

"The United States, working with partners around the world, stands ready to provide support for Ukraine as it takes the reforms it needs to get back to economic stability," White House spokesman Jay Carney told a press briefing.

The support can complement an International Monetary Fund program by helping to make reforms easier and by putting Ukraine in a position to invest more in health and education to help develop Ukraine's human capital and strengthen its social safety net, Carney said.

The Ukrainian Finance Ministry on Monday asked the international community to provide $35 billion to ensure financial stability in the country. Kiev also proposed to hold an international donor conference to raise the fund.

Carney stressed the importance of a multi-coalition and " technocratic" Ukrainian government that can help the country make "some of the important decisions that need to be made, especially in the economic and financial sphere."

Arseny Yatsenyuk, a member of Ukraine's interim leadership, said Monday that the country was in danger of bankruptcy.

"The treasury was plundered; the state is on the edge of bankruptcy," he said at a hearing in parliament, saying Ukraine's budget deficit was "incredible" and the country has "no funds to serve its debts."

Ukraine has to repay $17.4 billion of its foreign debt this year.

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